Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Last week, I spoke about accountability. At the weekend, we had another exposé relating to the HSE. Once again, Ministers' heads are on the chopping block, for want of a better description. The thought crosses my mind that when decisions like this are taken, Ministers operate on the advice given to them by their departmental officials. Because of the system of government we have in place, however, the person giving the advice is never called to account. Ultimately, the Minister of the day may end up having his or her head on the chopping block for a decision that was taken ten, 15 or 20 years ago, as the case may be.

The time has come for a complete review of the Ministers and Secretaries Act of 1924. It is nearly 100 years since that Act was written. I ask the Leader, the Cathaoirleach and the Clerk of the Seanad to put together a committee of this House that would review the Ministers and Secretaries Act with a view to bringing it into the 21st century. We cannot continue to have a situation whereby people can hide behind an Act of the Oireachtas that is almost 100 years old and not be accountable for decisions taken or advice given. I have a letter from two Ministers telling me that they have no idea what is going on but that they trust their officials to do the job correctly.That is simply not good enough. I can understand how Ministers could be duped or find themselves in a situation where there are 100 letters to be signed this evening. They go in to sign them and they trust the people who are asking them to sign these letters. It is not good enough. This House is the ideal place to carry out a review of the Ministers and Secretaries Act because we do not have the pressures of the Dáil on us. Between the Leader and the Cathaoirleach, I would ask that they consider putting together an ad hoccommittee that would be prepared to sit down and look at this Act and see if amendments should be brought forward. I am quite happy if a committee turned around to say that there is no need to amend the Act and that it is perfectly up to date. It is 100 years old, 99 this year, and it is time that it was reviewed.

It is just wrong that we constantly hear of Ministers being fired for the good advice that they thought they were getting at the time. We can go through CervicalCheck, the national children's hospital and through so many foul-ups in this State and it is time now to actually sit down and review it. I ask the Cathaoirleach and the Leader to report back to this House within a week as to whether or not we can do this. I thank the Cathaoirleach.